Web-based program helps city fight graffiti

ESCONDIDO - Graffiti is vandalism, not art, Escondido police
say, and officers are heralding a new tool in fighting blight
spray-painted on the city's walls, benches and pavement.

Graffiti Tracker, a Web-based service that records photos and
maps of graffiti incidents, has helped Escondido investigators make
dozens of graffiti-related arrests since the program became fully
functional last November, police said. The city is the only one in
the county to currently use the program.

Among the arrests were those made last month of two of the
city's most prolific taggers, a pair of juveniles who caused
$27,000 and $7,000 in damage, respectively, police said.

The system, in addition to cleanup by the city's Appearance and
Compliance Team -- a combined effort of city departments like
public works, fire, police and others -- has helped authorities
take a hard stance in prosecuting and removing graffiti, which they
say promotes gang activity and other crimes, officials said.

"It's a common experience in every city that if you let graffiti
stay, (the vandalism) grows like wildfire," said Deputy City
Attorney Gary McCarthy.

Graffiti Tracker, which maps tagging through a global
positioning system and uses a database to match incidents committed
by a single tagger, has shaved months off the time it traditionally
took to log and prosecute vandals, said Escondido graffiti
investigator Rick Rodriguez.

The Long Beach-based service is used by 22 law enforcement
agencies, including Santa Ana, Carson and Whittier, said Alejandra
Gutierrez, vice president of marketing for Graffiti Tracker.

Investigators that once filled bulky boxes with months-old
photos can now punch a few buttons on the computer to see a
complete collection of a vandal's damage, as well as dates and
locations of all the incidents.

"Prior to that, it was such painstaking work," Rodriguez said.
"It went from months to days of work to identify who (taggers)
are."

Between 200 and 250 graffiti arrests have made annually in
Escondido over the last two years, said Escondido gang
investigations Sgt. Mike Kearney. All are compared with Graffiti
Tracker to indicate whether the suspect has other cases, he
said.

According to Richard O'Donnell, Escondido's deputy director of
maintenance and operations, 7,382 graffiti incidents were reported
between January and August this year.

The exact number of arrests assisted by Graffiti Tracker was not
available, Kearney said, though authorities credit the program with
helping authorities crack down on suspects responsible for
additional cases.

"When you solve one case, you could potentially solve over a
hundred," said James Simmons, deputy district attorney. "The
Tracker has helped solve numerous cases, especially in cases where
we have repeat offenders where they (vandalize) multiple
properties."

Vandals could be forced to pay restitution to victims, Simmons
added, and if the taggers are juveniles, their parents could also
be liable for the fee. Sentencing for offenders can also include
fines and jail time.

The cost of Graffiti Tracker is determined by the number of
photos uploaded to the system, and the service cost the department
about $30,000 during the last fiscal year, Kearney said.

"This may sound like a lot of money, but compared to the
information the system provides, it is cost-effective," he said,
adding that the tracker likely costs less than the resources the
city would need to maintain its own system.

The cost of removing graffiti, meanwhile, cost the city $450,000
in the last fiscal year, O'Donnell said. It typically takes city
crews, who clean graffiti daily, 12 business hours to respond to a
graffiti complaint, O'Donnell said. To get graffiti removed faster,
he recommended that residents remove the paint themselves whenever
possible.

Residents doing so can still call police to have officers take a
report and photograph the vandalism before it is removed, so that
it may be added to the tracker, Kearney said.

Because graffiti is often accompanied by other crimes, such as
car burglaries, drug activity and gang membership, it also carries
other costs to the community, Rodriguez said.

In Escondido, 70 to 80 percent of graffiti is tagging done to
gain recognition for vandals, while the other 20 to 30 percent is
gang-related, Kearney said.

Still, tagging has become increasingly violent and "more
ganglike" in the last half-decade as the act becomes more
competitive, with vandals crossing out the scrawls of others and
leaving threats to rivals in their markings, Rodriguez said.

One of the hurdles authorities face in combating graffiti is
changing young peoples' attitudes, which Kearney said have become
more accepting toward the crime.

"A 'graffiti artist' is really a vandal," he said. "They destroy
peoples' property … and destroy the community for people such as
ourselves."